50% of French people feel personally vulnerable, Orange Cyberdefense study

Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense, one of the leaders in cybersecurity services in Europe, revealed the results of a study carried out with Harris Interactive, relating to the uses and perception of the cyber threat by both the French1 than businesses, more particularly SMEs2.

Among the main lessons, awareness of the daily presence of the threat as well as their vulnerability to attacks are the major elements. Symbol of this now omnipresent threat: one in four French people believe they receive a message suspected of being an attempted scam at least every day. More precisely, 72% of French people surveyed are of the opinion that individuals are preferred targets by computer hackers.

On the business side, if the majority of SME managers (93%) feel that they are well protected in terms of cybersecurity, they are particularly worried about the risks of a cyberattack for 42% of them.

This awareness is an essential and encouraging step in the face of cyberattacks.

But for Orange Cyberdefense, the approach cannot stop there and constitutes the basis for now putting in place good practices and the necessary protection measures. Cyber ​​vulnerability is not inevitable but it will be evolving, porous and daily in both personal and professional life.

As such, several contradictions may appear:

• 51% of 18-34 year olds indicate that they have already been victims of an attempted computer attack (vs. 27% for those over 35); but are paradoxically much less cautious than their elders regarding their daily actions (e.g.: 61% of 18-34 year olds say they use different passwords between their different online accounts vs. 82% of those aged 50 and over; 32% of 18-34 year olds say they use antivirus software vs. 56% of those aged 50 and over);
• While 60% of SMEs suffering a real attack go out of business within six months, less than one in two companies consider this to be a priority issue (43%). This last feeling can also be explained by the fear of lack of means, resources or skills. The lack of skills (42%) of employees in this area and their recklessness (28%) are the obstacles linked to cybersecurity most often cited by the managers of SMEs surveyed, ahead of the lack of financial resources (27%) or the lack of staff (19%).

This is why, as the study indicates, public and private awareness, training and the call for managed and adapted security services are the challenges of tomorrow.

For Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense: “ Our knowledge of the threat shows that attacks are increasingly sophisticated. Every day, we support companies and administrations with more or less critical assets. At the same time, attacks are spreading to all actors in society: the population’s feeling of vulnerability predominates even if the perception of risk sometimes remains truncated. Better understanding the drivers of this perception is therefore fundamental to putting our expertise at the service of everyone, in the right place, at the right time: for the business manager or the individual .”

1 Survey carried out online from May 11 to 15, 2023 with a sample of 1,020 people representative of French people aged 18 and over. Quota method and adjustment applied to the following variables: sex, age, socio-professional category and region of the interviewee.

2 Survey carried out by telephone from May 10 to 26, 2023 among a sample of 300 members of management or managers of the IT department of companies representative of French SMEs with 10 to 500 employees. Quota method and adjustment applied to the following variables: sector of activity, region, and size of the company.

CT Bureau